NY -- Standard&Poor's CreditWire 8/31/98 – Following the downgrade of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Standard&Poor's today lowered the foreign currency short-term counterparty and CD ratings of Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. to single-'A-1' from single-'A-1'-plus. The rating is removed from CreditWatch with negative implications, where it was placed on June 22, 1998. Additionally, Standard&Poor's has lowered the long-term counterparty and CD ratings of GE Capital Finance Ltd. (GECF) to single-'A' from single-'A'-plus, and affirmed its short-term counterparty and CD ratings of 'A-1'. The ratings of GECF are removed from CreditWatch with negative implications, where they were placed on June 23, 1998, and the outlook on the long-term ratings is changed to negative(see
